Easily carried night and day trail marker

ABSTRACT

A trail marking apparatus is used for marking a trail in a woodland. A spring loaded clip is normally closed under a spring tension and manually opened for attachment to a twig or small limb. The clip provides a pair of flat surfaces on opposing sides for receiving a pair of adhesive reflective markers which are engaged with the flat surfaces of the clip. A flexible streamer of approximately 10 inches in length has one end of the streamer bonded to the clip and the other end of the streamer fitted with a pair of reflective markers adhered to opposing sides of the streamer. The apparatus is used to mark a trail by engaging the clip with any natural object in the wooded area as the hunter passes. When returning at night the hunter finds the trail markers by shining a light beam in an approximate direction.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

[0001] 1. Field of the Invention

[0002] This invention relates generally to woodland marking systems andmore particularly to a deer trail marking system for improving thetracking of deer and other game.

[0003] 2. Description of Related Art

[0004] The following art defines the present state of this field:

[0005] Lovelace, U.S. D357,428 provides an ornamental design for thereflective trail marker.

[0006] Ryder, U.S. Pat. No. 3,685,482 describes a trail marker formed ofreadily foldable material having a tie portion reinforced by a length offlexible wire, and a connected tail portion. The reinforced tie portionis constructed so that the opposed ends thereof can be readily wrappedand secured about a tree branch or the like to mark a trail.

[0007] Flowerday, U.S. Pat. No. 3,785,337 describes a warning device foruse on fence wire, trees, posts and the like. The device has a flat baseand an integral strap extending from an edge thereof. The free end ofthe strap has fastening means on the end thereof adapted to be coupledwith the base of the device or the base of an adjacent warning device.The strap can encircle a fence wire or it can be secured, as by nails,to trees and posts for marking trails, driveway entrances and the like.A light reflector is mounted on the base.

[0008] Britt et al., U.S. Pat. No. 4,401,050 describes a phosphorescentescape route indicator having at least one protruding indicia formedwithin or attached to a sheet of material. The protruding indicia hasincorporated therewith a phosphorescent substance capable of emitting aglow in the absence of light. An adhesive formed as part of the sheet isutilized to apply the indicator to the surface of walls or stairwaysthereby aiding in delineating escape routes or access routes toemergency equipment during time of emergency.

[0009] Berlet, U.S. Pat. No. 4,145,793 describes a clothespin with twoelongated members each having a forward end defining a gripping portionand a centrally disposed pivot portion about which each elongated memberpivots. A spring acts to bias the gripping portions into abutment witheach other and to hold the elongated members together. To furtherrestrain the sliding of one elongated member with respect to the other,a key and groove locking mechanism is provided forward of the pivotportion, whereby the locking mechanism will operate with a minimum ofwear due to pivoting forces generated in the operation of theclothespin.

[0010] Gibson, U.S. Pat. No. 5,000,111 describes a trail marking devicefor marking a trail and guide an individual who is retracing his stepsin a wooded area during daylight or darkness. The trail marking deviceincludes an elongate sheet of light reflecting material which can beeasily seen in the daylight and an abutting strip of luminescentmaterial which can be more easily viewed in darkness. A plurality oflongitudinally spaced, longitudinally aligned wire sections aresandwiched between the strips for securing individual sheet sections toa tree limb. The sheet sections are detachably coupled to adjacent sheetsections along perforated break lines. The strips are wound on a spoolwhich include a plurality of tacks which can be used for alternatelytacking the strips to a tree.

[0011] The prior art teaches the use of markers and marking systems forwoodland trails but does not teach a system that is useful at night forguiding hunters into and out of a wooded area. The present inventionfulfills these needs and provides further related advantages asdescribed in the following summary.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

[0012] The present invention teaches certain benefits in constructionand use which give rise to the objectives described below.

[0013] A trail marking apparatus is used for marking a trail in awoodland. A spring loaded clip is normally closed under a spring tensionand manually opened for attachment to a twig or small limb. The clipprovides a pair of flat surfaces on opposing sides for receiving a pairof adhesive reflective markers which are engaged with the flat surfacesof the clip. A flexible streamer of approximately 10 inches in lengthhas one end of the streamer bonded to the clip and the other end of thestreamer fitted with a pair of reflective markers adhered to opposingsides of the streamer. The apparatus is used to mark a trail by engagingthe clip with any natural object in the wooded area as the hunterpasses. When returning at night the hunter finds the apparatus byshining a light beam in its direction.

[0014] A primary objective of the present invention is to provide anapparatus and method of use of such apparatus that provides advantagesnot taught by the prior art.

[0015] Another objective is to provide such an invention capable ofmarking a trail to be seen at night.

[0016] A further objective is to provide such an invention capable ofbeing easily carried about a persons neck.

[0017] A still further objective is to provide such an invention capableof being easily attached to natural object as a person moves through awooded area.

[0018] Other features and advantages of the present invention willbecome apparent from the following more detailed description, taken inconjunction with the accompanying drawings, which illustrate, by way ofexample, the principles of the invention.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0019] The accompanying drawings illustrate the present invention. Insuch drawings:

[0020]FIG. 1 is a left side elevation view of the preferred embodimentof the invention;

[0021]FIG. 2 is a right side elevation view thereof.

[0022]FIG. 3 is a close-up plan view thereof;

[0023]FIG. 4 is top plan view thereof;

[0024]FIG. 5 is a bottom plan view thereof, and

[0025]FIG. 6 is a perspective view thereof.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0026] The above described drawing figures illustrate the invention inat least one of its preferred embodiments, which is further defined indetail in the following description.

[0027] The present invention is a trail marking apparatus for marking atrail in a woodland. It comprises a spring loaded clip 10 adapted asnormally closed under a spring tension, such as a clothespin type, andmanually opened for attachment to a twig or small limb of a tree, or anyother natural object in a hunter's trail. The clip 10 provides a pair offlat surfaces 20, 20′ on opposing sides thereof. A pair of firstadhesive reflective markers 30, 30′ are adhesively engaged with the flatsurfaces 20, 20′ respectively, of the clip 10, as shown in FIGS. 3-5. Aflexible streamer 40 made of cloth or plastic is approximately 10 inchesin length. The fact that the streamer is flexible enables it to movewith the wind so as to be better seen. One end 42 of the streamer 40 isbonded, or otherwise joined to the clip 10 and the other end 44 of thestreamer 40 provides a pair of second reflective markers 50, 50′ adheredto opposing sides of the streamer 40. The materials of construction arewell known to the craftsman in this field, and the reflective materialsare also well known. The reflective markers 50, 50′ are preferably madeto reflect light at night in the same manner as for roadside markers andemergency patches and the like. The materials of construction are alsopreferably of a bright color such as orange so as to be visible duringdaylight hours.

[0028] In operation, the above described apparatus is first placed forencircling the neck of a hunter such that the other end 44 of theflexible streamer 40 is engaged with the clip 10 to form a closed loop.When the hunter is moving on a trail in a wooded area the hunterdisengages the flexible streamer 40 from the clip 10 to remove theapparatus from around the hunter's neck, and this may be accomplishedwhile the hunter is moving rapidly over terrain since the loop is soclose at hand, i.e. encircling his/her neck. The apparatus is thus drawnaway from the hunter and engaged with a flora to mark a trail as thehunter passes the flora. Upon returning, as in finding his/her way outof the wooded area, the hunter takes the step of shining a light in thedirection of the apparatus to find the trail. Clearly, the hunter wouldcarry a supply of the apparatus around the neck so as to be able toamply mark the trail.

[0029] While the invention has been described with reference to at leastone preferred embodiment, it is to be clearly understood by thoseskilled in the art that the invention is not limited thereto. Rather,the scope of the invention is to be interpreted only in conjunction withthe appended claims.

What is claimed is:
 1. A trail marking apparatus for marking a trail ina woodland which comprises: a spring loaded clip adapted as normallyclosed under a spring tension and manually opened for attachment to atwig or small limb, the clip providing a pair of flat surfaces onopposing sides thereof, a pair of first adhesive reflective markers areadhesively engaged with the flat surfaces of the clip; a flexiblestreamer of approximately 10 inches in length, one end of the streamerbeing bonded to the clip and the other end of the streamer providing apair of second adhesive reflective markers adhered to opposing sides ofthe streamer.
 2. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein at least one of theclip, first adhesive reflective markers, streamer, and second adhesivereflective markers are of a bright color.
 3. A method of using a trailmarking apparatus comprising: providing a spring loaded clip adapted asnormally closed under a spring tension and manually opened forattachment to a twig or small limb, the clip providing a pair of flatsurfaces on opposing sides thereof; a pair of first adhesive reflectivemarkers adhesively engaged with the flat surfaces of the clip; aflexible streamer of approximately 10 inches in length, one end of thestreamer being bonded to the clip and the other end of the streamerproviding a pair of second reflective markers adhered to opposing sidesof the streamer; encircling the neck of a hunter with apparatus suchthat the other end of the flexible streamer is engaged with the clip toform a closed loop, disengaging the flexible streamer from the clip toremove the apparatus from around the neck of the hunter; and engagingthe clip to a flora to mark a trail.
 4. The method of claim 2 furthercomprising the step of shining a light on the apparatus to find thetrail.